Butternut squash

I have a bunch of butternut squash that have been sitting on the counter for the last month. I finally got around to cooking some of them. My very successful recipe for butternut squash soup is: 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed 2 cups vegetable broth 1 cup coconut milk 2 tablespoon butter black pepper Cook butternut squash and broth until it boils. Then simmer for 30 minutes. Puree soup with a hand blender. Add coconut milk and simmer until heated through. Add pepper to taste. MMMMMM, it is like autumn comfort in a bowl.

Weekend activities

So much for geocaching this weekend. I did some goecaching on Friday so I should be content. This is quite an interesting addiction. We went to Gurnee to buy some winter coats. I had to finally accept the fact that I need a new coat. I tend to get really attached to things and do not want to replace them. The lining on my old coat was shredded. sigh I was able to find a coat that is almost exactly like my old one. What can I say? I do not like change. Burlington coat factory has an insane amount of coats. Another thing that I was hoping to do this weekend was to drive on rustic roads and look at leaves. http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/scenic/docs/rustic-se.pdf Here is a map of rustic roads in southeastern wisconsin. Maybe next week. Next weekend I am hoping to go on the trail of history in IL. http://www.mccdistrict.org/web/Trail-of-History.htm Hopefully the weather will cooperate. I love going to reenactment/history kinds of events. Again, I am a total nerd. I think it is fun to learn about how things were done in another time and place.

Busy weekend

This was a busy weekend. On Saturday we went on a guided hike at Starved Rock state park in Illinois. The park is a beautiful place to hike. The trails are easy to navigate and have lots of great photography opportunities. It was so busy on Saturday that it was a little overwhelming. The hike was supposed to go on a trail that went behind a waterfall. The winter, spring and summer have been so dry that there is no waterfall or stream. Maybe next time. On the way home we went geocaching and I dropped off a geocoin. On Sunday we went to Fiddlesticks for breakfast and then the East Troy railroad museum. It was a lot smaller than I thought but it was still interesting. Then we went to get caramel apples at Elegant farmer in Mukwanogo. I love caramel apples! I put lots of nuts on mine. There were lots of people at the farm, as usual, but it we were able to get a parking spot and get our apples in reasonable time. Then we went geocaching again. Since there are so few caches in East Troy I put out a new one. It has not been "approved" and published on the site yet but sometime this week. In one of the caches that we found, there was a "seed cache" so I took that and plan to hide that soon. Probably near East Troy again. After reading about the Starved Rock lodge and all the events that they have I learned about a woman's weekend. It is for learning about archery, hiking,horseback riding, fire starting, tree and flower identification, fishing, canoeing etc. I think it sounds like a great weekend. I may have to look more into that event.

Feels like fall

It is starting like fall. The air is cooler, the leaves are changing color and pumpkin spice coffee is back at Starbucks. I love anything with pumpkin. It makes the house smell and feel cozy. Having chili for lunch makes it even more cozy. I actually make real chili, not the kind made with macaroni. The other thing I love about fall is hiking. It is finally cool enough to go for a long hike. My favorite thing is to walk through crunchy fall leaves. I try to get out as much at possible before winter. Hopefully this weekend we can to hiking and geocaching (of course).

geocaching

For an early birthday gift my husband got me a geocaching GPS. I am addicted to geocaching. So far I have found 20 caches, 2 travel bugs and 1 geocoin. I have put out one geocache. It was put out yesterday so we will see how long it takes to be found. We have discovered some really pretty walking trails that I did not even know existed while geocaching. I looked on etsy to see if they had stuff there for GC. http://www.etsy.com/treasury/Nzc3NDY5M3wyNzIwNzQ0Mjcx/geocachers-spending-cash?index=0 Of course they do. Etsy never disappoints. There is a small town near us that has a county park. The park has about 10 caches in it. That will make a fun day of hiking. Can't wait to try it.

Geocaching!!!

I am addicted to geocaching. We went hiking today and found 2 caches. One was a cache that we had not even put the coordinates for. There were 2 others that we could not find. Using a smart phone is not super accurate. One of the caches had a geocoin in it. We took it and plan to put in another cache soon. Mt husband got a magellqan GPS for my birthday! Thanks honey!! My birthday is not until the end of the month so it is a little early. Tomorrow I hope to try it out. I hae already downloaded several nearby caches. Another happy surprise today, someone included one of my etsy items in their treasury. http://www.etsy.com/treasury/OTQwNjM5NnwyNzIzMjc2MzM4/bats-in-the-belfy

Nerd Alert

I am a total nerd! I love The Great Courses http://www.thegreatcourses.com/ I only buy them when they are on sale, and usually buy the audio download (no shipping cost) So far I have listened to Unexpected Economics, The Great Pharaohs, Hilters Berlin and the new testiment. I am interested in getting more economics courses. I thought that economics was just numbers. It is more like math and psychology together. It is crazy what sheep we all are in terms of what we buy and how we act. Marketing involves a lot of pshchology. I wish that they had a criminal psychology course. I only buy the courses when they are on sale. I do not know who buys then full price, they always have several courses on sale every month. The courses that I have listened to are far better than any I attended in college and much cheaper. What course would you buy?